Die Geister Hexen
by Wolf of the Aurora
Summary: Shot down, abandoned, forgotten... Five witches stranded in Neuroi occupied Karlsland must work together to escape or survive until the war ends. As they survive against the alien menace, they'll soon realize that the Neuroi are not the only monsters out there. This fiction focuses mainly on OCs but official characters will make appearances.
1. Phoenix

Die Geister Hexen

-1-

Phoenix

It was late in the year of 1943. A slight breeze moved through the silent hills and the leaves were in the colors of autumn as they covered the Gallian countryside one by leaves rolled with the wind and everything looked so peaceful but the tranquility was soon shattered. Red beams arched across the evening sky and tracer fire lit up the sky in response as witches from the 363rd Fighter Squadron of the 357th Fighter Group were engaged with the Neuroi in a wild furball. Among the Neuroi were drones, mostly cube or sphere shaped, and large-types that resembled giant flying manta rays.

A rocket destroyed the last large-type, sending white shards everywhere. The flight lead, Katharine Williams, a brunette in her late teens wearing a brown Liberion flight jacket, shielded herself from the incoming shards. Four drones headed in her direction and she took off, firing as she went. Three drones were taken out and she destroyed the last one with all seven bullets from her M1911.

As she dragged an ammo belt over the feed tray of her hungry .30 caliber AN/M2, she shouted over the intercom, "Who else still has ammo and how much do you have?"

"Half a belt left!"

"Three mags left"

"Two rockets left!"

A witch with short light brown hair moved to the edge of the fight to reload as the reports came in. She wore a light brown U.S. Army Air Corps jacket, which boasted the insignia of a Captain, and a light tan button shirt underneath. The P-51D model Striker Units she wore had _Old Crow_ painted on the engine cowlings. A certain report caught her attention. _Well of course Jackson has more ammo than the rest of us._ Just then she saw the aforementioned witch shoot a single bullet from her M1903, taking out two drones. _At least she's making good use of her ammo._

"Anderson!" Katharine's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Yeager! How much ammo do you have?"

"Clarissa Anderson here. I have four mags left," she said as she loaded a thirty round magazine into her M1 Carbine that was modified to shoot fully automatic. "As for Shirley..."

"Whooo-hoooo!" Shirley shouted with glee.

Clarissa watched the red headed witch flash by with a bogey on her tail. Clarissa quickly dispatched it. She then noticed how fast Shirley was moving. _Modding your Strikers again were you?_

"Shirley only has a couple mags left," Clarissa finished.

Suddenly, a warning from her wingman, Mikayla Langley, rang in her ears.

"Claire! There's a drone right above you!"

Claire looked up and saw a shape diving out of the afternoon sun. She fired and destroyed it before it could fire.

"Thanks! Guh!" Claire grunted as two beams slammed into her shield. Two cubed shape drones dove down and attacked and Claire poured as much magic as she could into her Strikers and shot off as fast as she could. The Neuroi gave chase. She jinked left, right, up, and down. Mikayla saw the problem and shot one rocket, destroying both of them. Claire looked over her shoulder and when she looked back forward she screeched to a stop as two more cube drones closed in. They soon became crystals when Shirley dove in between them, guns blazing. Claire covered her face from the glowing shrapnel. Another Neuroi shot out of the fragments, catching the witch by surprise. She tried to raise her gun, but wasn't quick enough. It rammed into her and she hung onto the front. _I'll take it out with my power,_ she thought to herself as she raised her hand. But before she could act, the red hexagon on the center started to glow. It was about to fire its beam right through her! Thinking quickly, Claire threw herself upward and landed on her back just as the flying cube fired its beam. Holding onto the edge of the cube, she raised her right arm with an open hand. Flames formed and wreathed around her hand and arm.

"Firestorm!" Claire shouted with a lot of power behind her voice and slammed her palm against the black surface. The Neuroi let out a screech of pain as a red hot jet of flame shot through its metallic body. It resisted and tried to shake the witch off but to no avail.

"Come on you son of a bitch!"

Claire released a fury of flame from her left hand. The Neuroi screamed and it glowed orange before exploding into the brilliant white crystals. She shielded her face as shards ripped by her, cutting her clothes and legs. Her _Old Crow_ was damaged but it kept her aloft. All around the witches, the remaining drones disintegrated. Apparently Claire had destroyed the one with the core.

"Nice one, Claire!" a witch shouted through the intercom.

"Good job, Anderson," Katharine acknowledged. "Guess we won't need the 352nd after all."

All the witches seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief as they started to drag their weary bodies back to base.

"Uh, Kate?" a witch said nervously. "You'd better call for backup."

Everyone looked at the witch then followed her gaze that stretched across Gallia. What they saw were many…many black dots growing larger and larger.

"Sarah! Call 352nd! We need them up here _now_!" Katharine shouted at the radio operator. As Sarah called for the _Blue Legs_, the Neuroi broke into the witches' formation firing machine guns; it was the Laros-Kai.

"Kate! They'll be here in ten minutes!" Sarah reported. Katharine was unloading into the I-16 shaped Neuroi and shouted above the gunfire.

"That's no good! Everyone, fall ba-!" Katharine stopped when she noticed her entire flight was swarmed in a cloud of the black metallic foes.

"The Bastards better move their asses if we are to survive," she said under her breath.

* * *

At the 352nd airbase in Bodney, Britannia, one of the _Blue Legs, _Geena Preddy, sat on a couch doing what she always does; solving a crossword puzzle.

"A word that starts with 'F'…" she murmured to herself.

"Focke," Carla Luksic said in a joking manner.

"No, no, no. Focke Wulf," replied Roberta Powell.

"Where did you pull that name from?" Carla asked. "The company is called Flak Wulf."

"If you insist then, Fokker."

The familiar sound of the air raid siren sounded throughout the base. A witch, Rosalind Littge, that ran by the room shouted at the lounging witches.

"Get off your asses and get to your Strikers! The 363rd needs our help!"

Powell sprang out of her chair and Carla vaulted over the couch. Geena followed in a more tranquil manner, closing her book with her pencil inside and stuffed it in her breast pocket.

"Come on!" Carla complained as she dragged Geena by her arm. "Why are you moving so slowly?"

* * *

Claire had just sliced through the wing of a Neuroi that mimicked an I-153 with a bayonet. She had ran out of ammunition for her Carbine and resorted to using her blades; an M1905 bayonet and a Tomahawk.

"How's it going for you?" Mikayla asked as she loaded more rockets into her M10 Bazooka.

"Not bad, considering…" Claire broke off when she noticed that her friend's nose was practically drooling blood. "What the hell happened to you?" she asked, failing to hide her amusement.

"I accidently ran into somebody else's shield," Mikayla responded. "What?"

"Bwahahaha! Oh my god!" Claire exclaimed, clutching her sides. "How does that even work?"

Mikayla didn't answer that question. "You were saying?"

"Yeah. I don't have any ammo. Can I have your Thompson?" She asked with her voice still trembling.

"Sure." Mikayla always carried an M1928 Thompson to accompany her launcher but rarely ever uses it.

"We've got a large-type coming in!" someone screamed.

"All units not occupied with enemy fighters, take down the heavy," Katharine ordered.

"Mikayla and Claire here. Roger that." Mikayla locked the third rocket into her launcher.

"Let's go."

The Neuroi was a heavy bomber shaped like B-17 but without any propellers in the engine housings. Such a large-type would typically be easy to shoot down but this Neuroi bristled with extra turrets like spikes on a porcupine. The duo met up with seven other witches who were led by Rachel.

"Good. We got extra firepower," Rachel commented when she saw Mikayla.

"Mind you. I only got four rockets left," Mikayla responded.

They were a kilometer from their target when a wall of bright red tracers formed in front of them.

"Spread out and divide its defensive fire!" Rachel ordered. "Destroy the turrets and clear a path for Langley!"

Everyone replied in unison.

"Roger!"

* * *

Katharine slammed the top cover of her Stinger closed when a hail of red tracers flew at her. Her shield deployed and she strained under the weight of fire. It was weakening, that much was clear. The Laros came closer and closer and when it was no more than a hundred feet away, a bullet broke through her shield and her striker, embedding itself in her leg. She screamed at the excruciating pain and dropped enough altitude for the Neuroi to pass over her. Another came in to strafe her position, catcher her in her arms and legs. The Units exploded and revealed her mangled and bleeding legs.

"Kate!"

* * *

As everyone drew away the heavy's fire, Mikayla found an opening and made her move. She approached head on and fired one rocket at the cockpit and another where the front gunner would be. The first was shredded by gunfire and the second hit between the cockpit and the nose gunner. The force of the magically enhanced explosion ripped open the left side of the cockpit, peeling back twisted metal.

"What-!" Mikayla exclaimed. Claire pulled her to the side.

"Remember that it's not an actual plane. There's no pilot."

"Where am I supposed to aim then?"

They saw part of the left wing snap off but the Neuroi kept on flying.

_Well, it looks like that won't work. A Neuroi like this doesn't use beams to create destruction so there should be bombs on board._ An idea popped into her mind.

"Okay," Claire said. "If it is anything like a B-17, aim at the fuselage just behind the wing. Hit it there and it'll likely break in half and the explosion should set off any bombs that thing is carrying."

"Should? We're going to gamble my last two rockets on a theory?"

"Well if you got a better idea, I'm all ears."

Mikayla shrugged and the duo took off. Claire blocked the incoming fire as they raced toward the Neuroi because was pouring all available magic she had into the rockets so she couldn't concentrate on her shield. They closed in fast. 1500 feet... 1000 feet... 500 feet...

"Now!" Mikayla shouted. Claire pulled up and hit her brakes as Mikayla zoomed under her. As soon as Claire was clear, she doubled tapped the last of her rockets. Two white contrails streaked towards the bomber. The first punched a hole in the side and the second broke through and detonated when it struck the inside wall. The result was a massive explosion that engulfed the entire Neuroi. Mikayla dived away from the fireball and the rest of the witches shielded themselves as they got blasted by hot air. The fireball receded and the bomber could be seen plummeting to the earth in two flaming pieces. A couple seconds later, a giant secondary explosion wiped out any trace of it.

"Whoo! Yeah, Mikayla!" Claire shouted. "You and your overkill magic ability!"

Mikayla's magic ability allowed her to magically enhance a weapon's firepower well beyond that of a normal witch. The downside is that it takes up an unsafe amount of magic and she could cut her sortie short if she wasn't careful.

The other witches who attacked the bomber cheered and Rachel reported in.

"Kate. This is Rachel. The bomber has been destroyed. I repeat; the Neuroi bomber is down. Credit goes to Langley." There was no response from the flight lead. "Kate? Kate, do you copy? Kate?"

Suddenly, a chaotic flow of radio traffic was heard.

"Kate is falling!"

"Commander Williams!"

"Somebody catch her!"

Two witches who were dogfighting fighters had caught Kate. She was bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds and her Strikers were gone, exposing her legs laced with shrapnel. Black curtains threatened to shut her off from the rest of the world but she managed to hold on to the tiniest bit of consciousness.

Claire arrived just in time to see Rachel panic over Kate's state.

"I said, 'What are we supposed to do now Captain?'"

Claire had just realized that she was being addressed. She was the next highest ranking officer there and the Rachel, the Major, was clearly unfit to lead at the moment.

"Uh-" Claire began.

"We got more Neuroi incoming!" someone interrupted.

_They don't let up do they?_

"Sarah, what's the status on reinforcements?" Claire asked.

"Four minutes."

"Can we hold them off until then?" The words were out of her mouth and in the air before she could stop them.

"There's no way," a witch bleeding from a cut on her waist said with fatigue. "We're all injured...and exhausted." She was carrying a younger with on her back. Claire thought she was dead until the witch moved her arm to get a better grip.

"Fall back across the Channel. The badly wounded and the witches helping them, leave your weapons of give them to someone else. Everyone else, cover them."

With no time to lose, everyone moved towards Britannia while exchanging weapons and wounded. When they were done arming or discarding weapons, there were many with multiple weapons. Claire dropped the Thompson and was given the Stinger that had belonged to Kate.

The first Neuroi came into range. It was another Laros. Mikayla shot her .45 caliber handgun once at the Neuroi and it blew apart as if a 30mm cannon took it out. Mikayla and Claire along with the other five or so witches who were escorting were getting hammered but they were so close to the Channel.

"Where are the Neuroi that shoot beams?" Claire wondered aloud.

"What? Would you rather fight them?" Mikayla asked.

"Uh, no-"

A witch named Samantha overheard the exchanged and barged in.

"Just shut up and keep shooting!"

She unloaded the rest of the .50 caliber rounds then dumped her M2.

"Andrea, gun!" she shouted.

Andrea was dual wielding Thompsons. One was an M1A1 and the other was an M1928. She tossed Samantha the M1A1. Samantha caught it and used the remaining rounds in the magazine to destroy a Neuroi.

"Sam! Catch!" Andrea threw a triple magazine pouch to Samantha.

A Chaika shaped Neuroi had latched onto Claire's proverbial tail and won't let go. Mikayla fired her M1911 but it caused no damage at all. It did distract it long enough for Claire to turn around and attack. She formed a fireball in her left hand and threw it towards the biplane, blowing it to smithereens. Claire noticed what happened to Mikayla and ordered her to leave the combat zone before she got hurt.

Half of the squadron was over the Channel. Kate was among the half still over Gallia. By this time, there were only two combat effective witches; Captain Clarissa Anderson and Lieutenant Charlotte Yeager.

The M1919 Stinger chewed up the last of the belt. Claire didn't have time to reload and she didn't have the strength to make a fireball powerful enough to be effective. There was an option, but she wasn't about to allow the caged beast escape again.

"Claire!" Shirley screamed. Claire looked in her direction as she zoomed past her. Shirley had thrown something and it reflected the light of the fiery red setting sun. It was a silver M1911, but it was not just any M1911. It was Shirley's personal handgun that she had custom made. There was gold plating that was shaped like a ribbon inscribed with "Charlotte E. Yeager" in cursive on the left side of the gun along with Shirley's personal emblem just behind it. Claire caught the pistol and unloaded all seven rounds into a Neuroi, destroying it.

With a bit of breathing room, Claire reloaded the M1919 with the last belt of a hundred rounds. She released the slide of the M1911 and held onto it. On the horizon over Gallia, more Neuroi appeared. This time...large-types.

"Any plans on what to do?" Shirley asked as she pulled up next to the Captain.

"Yeah. You hurry up and get over the Channel while I slow them down."

Shirley opposed her idea instantly.

"There's no way I'm leaving you here by yourself! I've got ammo, I can still fight!"

"You don't have enough magic to charge up your weapon. You need the rest to get back to base." Claire said, exhaustion creeping into her voice. Shirley noticed.

"How come you're staying then?" Shirley countered. "Are you trying to get more kills?"

"Don't bring my kill count into this."

"You want to increase your kill count, don't you?" Shirley continued. "Is being five kills ahead of me not enough?!"

"Why are talking about this now?!" Claire shouted, fully aware of the approaching enemies.

"Because you think you can stay because you're better than me!"

"That's not the case! As a friend's request, please return to base."

"I'm not gonna-"

"Lieutenant Yeager!"

Shirley fell silent at Claire's outburst. They haven't addressed each other by rank or last name since they met.

"Shirley. Please...don't force me to make it an order," Claire pleaded.

There was a long pause as they stare each other with no sounds other than the whirl of the wind and murmur of their Strikers.

"Okay," Shirley finally said.

"Thank you." Claire said as she held out the M1911.

Shirley looked at Claire's hand briefly before pushing it away.

"Give it back when you return to base. Promise me that."

"Promise."

Shirley shot off in her modded Strikers and Claire turned to face the oncoming swarm. Hatches on all the large-types opened and hundreds of drones shaped like 5 in rockets streamed from their mother crafts. The dark cloud of metal descended upon the witch and swirled around her, leaving her at the center of the sphere.

_What's going on?_ Claire thought to herself. _Why aren't they attacking me? It's almost as if they are _afraid_ of me or something. In any case..._

"Come on you bastards!" Claire screamed. The Stinger roared to life and white shards exploded all around her as tracers flew into the wall of Neuroi. The gun ran dry and she resorted to throwing fireballs. Her final attack, she threw a continuous stream of flame from her hands which sliced through the wall of metal. As quickly as the opening was made, the drones closed it like a zipper.

_Guess I have no choice..._

Claire had one option left and no matter how much she opposed it, it was the only choice she had left. Slowly, her mental wall that she kept that monster prisoner began crumbling one brick, one rivet, one weld at a time as it banged against its cage with fearful ferocity. She could hear her familiar, a dove, screaming inside her head as the white wings on her head and the tail on her back began to simmer. In front of her, a large-type peered through the wall and opened a hatch leading to a path of blinding white light in front of Claire.

_There's no way I can walk away from this._ Claire thought as she felt her entire body begin to smolder.

"Don't do it, Anderson!" she heard someone scream weakly over the intercom. "Do not let it out!"

Claire opened her eyes with a gasp

_Commander Williams!_

"Yes, I do know about it. Your mother told me about it and that no matter what happens, do not let the phoenix take control."

Claire took in Katherine's words. She knew the destruction it could cause and letting it out would put everyone in danger even if she could use its power to destroy all the Neuroi. She looked back forward and closed her eyes, allowing the white light to consume her.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter of _Die Geister Hexen_! Chapter 2 should be out soon. Anyways, any comments or reviews are greatly appreciated.**

**Just as the _Old Crow_ reference suggests, I based Clarissa Anderson off Clarence Anderson.**

**I based the banter between the Blue Legged Bastards of Bodney off of a picture Shimada Fumikane drew where Geena also asked for a word that started with an "F".**

**Shirley's M1911 is based off the "Western Arms M1911 Charlotte E. Yeager".**


	2. Victims and Aggressors

**Edit: I changed part of the second half of the chapter as I was truly uncomfortable with it and had some helpful advice. This chapter may still be a bit choppy even with the changes. For those who are reading through for the first time, if you want to know what the original chapter contained, it is covered in a review for this chapter.**

* * *

-2-

Victims and Aggressors

The air above the 363rd Fighter Squadron's base hung heavy with distress. A week has passed and the casualties they have sustained kept them grounded ever since their sortie over Gallia. No one spoke more than they needed to because no one wanted to mention the worst as Claire was a well respected Captain. Oddly enough, the witch who had been the most active was Katherine Williams. She made her way around with crutches despite the doctor's protests. He practically begged the Commander to at least use a wheel chair but she declined stating that her legs are less important than her squadron's morale. One day, she invited Charlotte and Rachel to her office. Again, they sat in silence as no one wanted to mention what they were all thinking.

Finally, Rachel quietly broke the silence.

"I guess Yeager is to be promoted to Captain."

No one said anything as each witch looked at each other in turn until Charlotte addressed the Commander.

"I don't think I can replace Claire, but I will try to do my best in her stead."

"I'm sure you will," Katherine began. "But not in my squadron."

"Ma'am?" Charlotte asked uneasily.

Katherine pulled an open envelope from a draw in her desk and tried to walk up to Charlotte but sat back down on the front of her desk, panting and her teeth gritting with pain. She held the envelope out and Charlotte walked up and grabbed it. She didn't even take out the letter as the yellow broom sticks shaped as a star inside a blue circle on the envelope was unmistakable.

All Charlotte could do was stare and stutter.

"This...They...I..."

"That's right," Katherine said. "The Wolf has put in the request herself. She wants you to join the Strike Witches."

Charlotte was still struggling to respond.

"It's okay. You don't have to accept it if you don't want to go."

"No. I'll go. Claire would've encouraged me to if she was here."

"Well then Captain Yeager, the 501st is calling. Be prepared to depart in the morning."

"Yes, ma'am," Charlotte said as she turned to leave.

"Oh, and one more thing," Katherine said. "Try not to think about Clarissa too much. I promise I'll contact you if I hear any information about her."

* * *

A young girl outstretched her arms as she spun around in the town square. She giggled and her brown Orussian military overcoat lifted, revealing a pair of knee-high brown laceless boots that were tightened by buckles; one near the opening and another at the ankle. Like many other witches, she didn't wear pants. Tatyana Novikova took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

_Ah. 1944. Spring in Orussia._

Tatyana looked up and let the sun sink into her skin.

"Um, excuse me, Pilot Officer."

She looked to her left and saw a soldier.

"Yes?"

"Could you do something for her?" he asked pointing to a small girl that was next to him.

The girl had long brown hair and a cute white dress on. She couldn't be any more than ten years old. Tatyana was about to ask what the problem was when she saw that the girl was holding part of her dress up, showing a scraped knee.

"Sure I can."

She knelt down and called upon her familiar. A pair of sable colored ears and tail of a Suomus Lapinkoira materialized and a blue glow emitted from her hands as she used her healing spell.

"How did you get this?" Tatyana asked curiously.

"Well...I was playing tag with my brother and I was it. I tried to catch up to him but I tripped," the girl said.

A minute passed and the scrape was healed.

"There you go. Be careful next time, okay?"

"Okay!" she said happily.

"Lydia!" someone called.

Tatyana looked up and saw a woman waving and behind her was a boy not much older than Lydia.

"Spasibo miss!" Lydia said as she went back to her mother.

Tatyana waved goodbye and saw Lydia tag her brother and the siblings commenced running around and hiding behind their mother's legs.

Tatyana smiled and shook her head.

_Kids will be kids. What are you going to do?_

* * *

Meanwhile, in Britannia, Anne Cotton, a witch, walked through a restaurant. She looked around until she saw the person she was looking for at a booth. The person in question had long, light brown hair tied in a half ponytail and wore a tan-brown jacket. She also had her familiar out; the brown ears of a Shetland Sheepdog. Anne quietly walked up and looked over the witch's shoulder. The sitting witch had her hands a couple inches apart and a spoon levitated above them.

"Whatcha doing, Jeanne?" Anne said all of a sudden. Jeannette Walker jumped and nearly screamed. Her loss of concentration sent the spoon clattering on the table.

"Jesus, Anne!" she exclaimed softly. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry about that," Anne said as she sat opposite of her. "Still trying to strengthen your ability?"

"Yeah. I was about to break my record of time for being able to lift a spoon."

"Well, at least you can use your ability," Anne said with envy.

Unlike Jeanne, Anne couldn't control her ability if she used it. Once when she was still little, she had a performance to do and nearly destroyed an entire theater when she played her violin. It pained her to not do the one thing that she loves.

"I got my deployment orders," Anne said unexpectedly.

Jeanne looked up from her menu.

"I'm being stationed in the Mediterranean...Venezia."

"Not much fighting going on there," Jeanne remarked.

"We didn't join the witches to fight now did we?" Anne asked.

She was right. Both of them joined the reconnaissance division. They never planned to fight but they wanted to contribute to the war effort and not be cooped up inside a factory. Anne probably joined because it was a job and she didn't want to remember her performance. Jeanne, on the other hand, was different.

Jeannette Walker is an eighteen year old witch from Faraway Land. She comes from a rich family and would not have to work a day in her life but she joined the witches anyway. Her privileged life really shows on her body. The fingers on her hands are long and elegant, yet delicate and her skin is soft. Something interesting about her name is that her abbreviated name, Jeanne, is pronounce as "Jun", much like how Fusoans would pronounce it.

"Have you got your deployment orders yet?" Anne asked.

"No. Not yet. But it should be soon."

* * *

A Fiat G.12 adorned with the black boot and red background of the 504th Joint Fighter Wing, the Ardor Witches, flew over the border of Romagna and Venezia. Aboard, a single witch looked out a window at the passing landscape below. The plane landed on the runway of the 504th and she stepped off the plane. The wind from the propellers blew her long black hair as well as the short coattails of her olive-green jacket. She was greeted by a man who was assigned to drive her to the main building. After she was dropped off she gave her thanks, she walked towards the building. A pair of eyes watched her from the second floor. It was Junko Takei, watching her with her arms crossed in a passive manner.

"So that's Misako, huh?" asked Federica Doglio, the Commander of the Ardors.

"Yep. Misako Seiya: Became a witch when she was nine and graduated from the Fusoan Navy Academy under the guidance of Rie Akiyama when she was twelve. Her familiar is a wolf whom she calls Shirayuki."

"Navy, huh? And yet she's wearing an Army jacket," Federica mused as she flipped through Misako's file. "How is Rie by the way?"

"She's turning twenty-five soon," Junko said. "She took it hard when she found out her magic was waning but accepted that it was time for her to put her Strikers away."

The Romagnan continued to scan through the file until something seemed to snatch her eyes out of her skull.

Misako opened the door to Federica's office and saw Federica breathing heavily, her face as red as the clothes she wore. Junko tried to calm her down.

"Um...is it a bad time?" Misako asked timidly.

"No, not at all," Federica said in a guarded tone.

Misako walked to the center of the room and hesitantly, gave a salute.

"Flying Officer Misako Seiya reporting for duty."

"Okay, first things first. You're here to substitute for Amaki Suwa while she is away..."

Federica picked up the phone in the middle of her statement and announced over the loud speaker, "Nishiki Nakajima, please come to my office."

She put the receiver down and continued. "And you're a night witch, correct?"

Yes, ma'am."

"Then you'll be assigned to night patrol once I get a schedule worked out. Until then you'll participate in everyday witch assignments."

At that moment, Nishiki entered the room and froze when she saw Misako.

"Any questions or objections?" Federica asked.

"No, ma-"

"YES!" Nishiki shouted.

"Excuse me, Nakajima?"

Nishiki brushed past Misako and hissed something angrily to her superiors that Misako couldn't make out but she did see Junko's cheeks become red with anger.

"Please excuse us," Junko said as she dragged Nishiki out of the room.

Federica watched them go and her eyes landed on Misako. The young witch looked hurt and for good reason too. She knew what Junko and Nishiki would be discussing.

Outside, Junko was talking to Nishiki in a hushed tone.

"She's not going to do anything to you, or any of us for that matter!"

"But you read her file!" Nishiki said. "Her hands are red with blood!"

"All I'm saying is, 'Give her a chance'. I'll give you her file to read thoroughly to prove my point. If that is not enough, you can take it up with General Galland."

Both Fusoans walked back into the office.

"Now. Any objections?" Junko asked, eyeing Nishiki.

"No, ma'am," she said shamefully.

"Then could you show Miss Seiya her room and give her a tour of the base?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Misako followed Nishiki out, leaving the two superiors.

"Why didn't you tell me about her before hand?" Federica asked.

Junko crossed her arms.

"Huh. I thought you had faith in me."

"I do, but...this was rather unexpected."

* * *

Heavy breathing could be heard in the dark of night as witch ran through the woods outside of her base. She was being chased; not by Neuroi, not by thieves or criminals, but by her own squad mates. She looked back and saw the wildly waving yellow beams of light held by the other witches. Not paying attention to what was in front of her, her left shoulder struck a tree forcing her to turn around and trip backwards over an exposed root and into a muddy puddle. Fearing for her life, she struggled to pull her limbs out of the hole. She could feel the mud suck at her arms as she desperately tried to pull them out. After her arms were free, she clawed at the dirt and grass to pull her legs out. Finally free, she laid still, breathing heavily. Her rest wasn't for long as she heard the vicious barks and growls of her pursuers.

"Where the fuck is she?!"

"She went over that mound!"

The witch scrambled to her feet and continued running. With her magic, she could outrun the others in no time, but what if she couldn't find her way back? Was that their plan? If she couldn't find her way back, she won't be able to say goodbye to the person she can confide in; her Squadron Leader.

After making her way down a shallow slope, she hid in the underbrush. The others came closer and all of a sudden, her familiar activated.

"What?! No, no, no, Arya! Not now!" she whispered in panic. It was no use. Black cat ears and a very long black tail sprouted out of her body. She noticed that her tail was sticking out from under the bush and she frantically reached out and grabbed it right when the other witches were right on top of her. She held her tail with her left hand and covered her mouth with her right.

"Where did she go?!" a witch shouted.

"I thought you were the best tracker among us!" another witch said.

"Hey! Don't blame me! You should have been paying attention too!"

The witch under the bush could see their feet as they started to brawl. She knew who the two witches are. The first one, "the tracker", was Jade Rheingold and the other was Nicole Samin. They were the ones that got the entire squadron turned on her. Rheingold was the ring leader while Samin was the loyal lapdog.

"Just spread out and find that bitch!" someone said.

"Come on out ya fuckin' pussy!" Samin shouted.

"We should burn her at the stake like the olden times!"

_Do they even know what they're saying? If they want to burn me, they should burn themselves first!_

The footsteps receded and the witch let out a huge breath.

_Guess I'll wait here for a while..._

She heard footsteps approaching and they stopped right in front of her bush. She could see the feet move around until the toes were pointing at her.

_Scheiße! They found me! Johanna, save me!"_

"Evelyn?" a soft voice said. "Evelyn, are you there?"

She knew who the voice belonged to although it wasn't Johanna's. It was a person she could trust. Johanna's second in command, Sophia Clemens. Evelyn crawled out from under the bush and was face to face with the witch with long silver hair and white skin. The moon was a tiny slit in the black sky and the light that shown from it made Sophia look like a ghost.

"Let's get you back to base and get you a fresh jacket, underwear, and...pants," Sophia said.

Evelyn was probably one of the few witches who even wore pants. Her reasoning was that she was barely assigned to any patrols or missions. She was even denied to fly an emergency sortie! The high ranking official, Rudolph Hausser, who is in charge of the squadron, JG 77, never allowed Evelyn Meyer to do any missions once he found out she was in the squadron, leaving her on the ground to be tormented by her teammates. Johanna challenged his choice of decisions and it would only be a matter of time before she would take her case up to Adolfine Galland.

"Is it really safe for me to go back?" Evelyn asked, her body trembling.

"We'll wait out here for a while so by the time we get back they should be asleep."

* * *

A couple months earlier...

Evelyn had just arrived at the airbase near Chaumont, Gallia and witch who was not much older than her was giving her a tour of the base. During the tour, Evelyn caught sight of two witches giving her a disgusted look and the tour guide tipped her head in confusion.

The two witches, who Evelyn would know as Rheingold and Samin, would tell a rumor that would spread like a wildfire in a bone dry forest around the base: "There is a murderer among us and her name is Evelyn Meyer."

The two witches soon gathered a posse of around ten witches and they followed her, calling out obscene insults and other names. The most common that everyone caught onto used her middle name; "Connie the Convict". They soon trapped Evelyn against the wall in the hall near the barracks and continued with the insults.

"Come on you piece of shit," one of them said.

"We know what you are," Rheingold taunted.

"A murderer!" Samin finished her master's statement.

Evelyn gasped and opened her eyes in surprise.

_Is she talking about...? They know about... But...That's not true!_

Evelyn furrowed her brow and blood roared in her ears as she tried to fight the building anger and depression, although depression took the cake. Apparently Rheingold noticed.

"What's the matter? How about you show us some of that rage?"

Suddenly, a commotion of panic came from the witches.

"Wait a minute..."

"Oh, shit!"

"Shit! It's the Commander!"

"Run!"

Finally with some room, Evelyn slid down until she touched the floor. A couple moments later, a brunette Karlsland witch wearing a blue-grey jacket with pointy coattails in the front, a black buttoned shirt underneath it and black boots stood before her.

She knelt down.

"You must be Pilot Officer Evelyn Meyer."

Evelyn nodded.

"I'm Johanna Wiese; the leader JG 77. Sorry for the bad greeting you had. They usually aren't like this."

Evelyn said nothing.

"Come on. There's nothing to be afraid of."

She held out her hand and pulled Evelyn to her feet.

"Now...let's finish that tour, shall we?"

From that day forward, the two Karlslanders became very close. Johanna took Evelyn under her wing and would personally instruct Evelyn on how to fly, what type of tactics to use and when to use them, gunnery skills, and other things such as cooking. Johanna would even counsel Evelyn even though her foolishness would have her miss quite a few details.

* * *

Evelyn turned the water hot enough that it turned the entire washing area into a Suomus sauna. The hot water soothed her tired body and she gently scrubbed the mud and dirt off. She was getting started on her blonde hair when she was interrupted.

"Hello, Meyer."

Evelyn spun around and saw Rheingold standing right outside the stall. She was fully clothed as she looked up and down Evelyn's bare body.

"There's no way you can get some with a body like," Rheingold taunted.

_Is sex all you care about?_ Evelyn thought to herself and couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. _Of course an attention whore like yourself would think the amount of people you sleep with equals your social status._

"I have to say, your body is big in the wrong places. There's more fat around your middle than up here." Rheingold groped her own breasts to make her point.

_Okay, now you're just insulting me as neither of those things are true. And you have nothing to brag about yourself._

Evelyn wasn't paying attention when she was thinking to herself and she soon found Rheingold pinning her at the back of the stall holding onto her throat. Her assaulter raised one hand and began punching her across the face. In attempt to block it, Evelyn raised her hand to catch Rheingold's hand but only ended up with her own hand in her face. Now bleeding from her nose and mouth, Evelyn tried again but this time activated her familiar. Her black cat ears materialized and so did her black tail. Her tail was so long that the last quarter had to bend up to avoid touching the ground. Rheingold threw another punch but this time Evelyn caught it and, with the help of her magic, managed to shove Rheingold away and bolted. She was not two steps out of the stall when someone clotheslined her.

"Nice one," Rheingold complemented the clothesliner, Jacie Talbot. Evelyn lay dazed. Then someone held a towel over her face and others held down her limbs. Suddenly, water rushed through the towel. Evelyn gasped for breath but every time she breathed, water rushed into her lungs. The towel lifted, and she coughed up a river.

"Are you having fun, because I sure am," Rheingold said.

Back down, goes the towel and the weight of water crashed down on Evelyn. She struggled, violently shaking her head trying to dislodge the deadly cloth and claw for tiniest bit of air. Slowly, her movements became weaker until she stopped. She laid absolutely still, her lungs heavy with water. One by one, Rheingold's minions slowly moved away from Evelyn's body. Rheingold herself took off the towel from her face and spoke into the empty blue depths of the unconscious witch's eyes.

"Hey," Rheingold began, tapping Evelyn's cheek. "I know you can hear me. I'm giving you two choices: You can either let me decide how you die, which would probably be in a slow and painful way or kill yourself the way you want."

Evelyn didn't respond as she practically had just drowned. Rheingold and her group left. Sophia, who was inside the changing room, witnessed what happened but didn't hear Rheingold's "offer".

"Do you even know what you did?!" Sophia shouted in disbelief.

"Yeah. I did the world a favor. One less criminal to think about." Rheingold said nonchalantly.

"One less crimin-... Do you even hear yourself?! You just attempted to murder an innocent girl!"

Rheingold tipped her head to her side and said nothing.

"You've gone too far. I'm going to-"

"'To' what?" Rheingold interrupted. "Report to the Commander? Like the last hundred times you said you would?"

Sophia opened her mouth to give a retort but remained silent.

Rheingold turned around to walk away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have makeup that I need to fix. That bitch in there messed it up with her filthy shower water."

Sophia just gaped at her lack of concern. When the group had gone, Sophia dropped the spare change of clothes she was carrying and rushed to Evelyn. The lifeless witch's mouth had water and blood slowly trickled out and down her cheek.

"Evelyn!" Sophia cried. She pinched Evelyn's nose and breathe into her mouth. She then put her hands over the witch's chest and pushed down while counting to herself.

"Come on!" Sophia repeated the process as she desperately tried to revive Evelyn.

"You can't be dead. Evelyn!"

* * *

"_Evelyn!"_ The words echoed in Evelyn's ears. She was back outside, sitting on a stone bridge just outside of the nearby town. Her clothes were carelessly thrown onto her body. The green jacket was partially buttoned and the black string tie hung around her neck. She still wore her pants but they rode lower than usual as she forgot her belt. She was in a miserable state as she looked back on what had happened just a little while ago but everything was still fuzzy and she wasn't sure if it could've been just a bad dream. Rheingold's words however, echoed in her ears over and over again.

_What to do. What to do..._

The witch flicked a stone and watched it fall into the raging river below. She has been thinking of ending it for some time now but just never got around to it. Even when she was about to do it, there were so many other questions to answer: How will she go about doing it? Should it be quick and painless or slow and painful? Would anyone miss her? Again, Evelyn looked down into the black liquid at the bottom of the gorge. All she had to do was lean forward. She looked back at her right hand where she held her S&amp;W M27 revolver with a 6" barrel. The longer she looked at it, the more friendly it looked and she slowly started to lift the gun.

"Evelyn!"

Tires screeched and Evelyn saw someone jump out of a jeep. It was the Lioness of Kuban. Johanna ran up to her and gently pulled Evelyn off the barrier and sat her down on the stone sidewalk. She noticed the revolver still slowly moving up.

"Jesus!" Johanna slapped the gun out of her protégé's hand. "What do you think you're doing?! What the hell has gotten into you?!" Evelyn avoided her mentor's eyes with a look of shame. Johanna sighed and took in deep breaths, trying to calm herself after her outburst. She shouldn't have shouted at Evelyn like that. The young witch doesn't react well to being yelled at. What else could she do to prevent her from killing herself? She really cares for the blonde.

"Sorry." Johanna sat down on the curb next to Evelyn. "So, what happened?"

"Rhein-...Rhein-..." Evelyn's words caught in her throat as she still wasn't sure if the attempt or threats on her life were real.

"Oh, so Rheingold has been picking on you again, huh? That's quite a poor excuse to end your own life."

"It's not only that..." Evelyn said but couldn't bring herself to say that she had been assaulted.

Johanna narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

"You feel like you're missing out, huh? Come on. Let's go fly tomorrow." Johanna walked back towards the jeep. Evelyn looked up in surprise.

"You're going to take me flying?"

"That's what I said, didn't I?"

"But Hausser"-

"You let me deal with that paper pushing Nazi. You're a witch, Evelyn. And a Mechanized Air Infantryman at that. You don't belong on the ground. You belong in the sky where it's vast and free."

Evelyn beamed at the anticipation of soaring through the air like an eagle that she sprang up and jumped into the jeep, not before picking up her sidearm first.

The next day, Johanna was in her office speaking to Hausser over the phone.

"No more excuses! I'm tired of listening to your bullshit! Evelyn has every right to-"

Hausser interrupted her on the other end and Johanna quickly returned the favor.

"She has a name! It's Evelyn Connie Meyer."

There was a long pause as he tried to weasel his way into getting what he wants.

"Do you want me to take it up with General Galland?" Johanna threatened. "I'll take it that far and you can explain why we lost this war because _you_ didn't allow every witch at our disposal to fight. I'm sure Bär would do something if the General doesn't."

Henrietta Bär is a witch who served on all European fronts in the war ranging from Eastern to Western Europe, North Africa, as well as the Mediterranean. At the moment she is supervising the research and development of Messerscharf jet fighters and Strikers as well as test flying them.

"Okay. I understand." Johanna hung up the phone and looked at Evelyn who was sitting in a corner of the office.

"Take your pants off and meet me in the hangar. We're going flying today!"

Evelyn sprang to her feet and danced around the room with barely contained excitement.

_Yes! I am actually going on a mission!_ Maybe everything that had happened yesterday was just a bad dream.

Rudolph Hausser put the phone back onto its cradle. Hausser was more of a politician than a high ranking military official and he's never been in service as he bribed someone to knock his name off the drafting list. He's a member of the National Socialist Karlsland Workers' Party, more commonly known as the Nazis; a small political group that, as a whole, has little to no influence although some individuals themselves can be very persuasive. He looked up at the two pants-less teenage girls before him.

"You're plan is a go," he said.

"Jacie," Rheingold nodded to the girl on her left. A shadow fell across Jacie Talbot's face as she grinned.

* * *

**Well, that's the second chapter! Hopefully it wasn't too unbelievable. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave comments or criticisms (constructive criticisms preferably) as they'll be greatly appreciated. Anyway, take care and I'll see you in the next chapter.**

**A/N: I mean no ill feelings towards the real pilots of JG 77. It's just that Johanna's archetype, Johannes Wiese, also commanded the squadron. Tatyana's familiar is a Finnish Lapphund in our world terms. I would've given a non-real world name for the Sheltie but I don't know what to call the Shetland Islands. Sort of like how writers have to find a way to call China in this universe isn't it?**

**Henrietta Bär is my interpretation of Heinrich ****Bär as a witch.  
**

**Anyway, Anne Cotton is a character from the Strike Witches manga _Unknown Witches: Secret File._ She is the main character in Chapter 7, _Canon 1945._ For those who have read it or are planning to read it, the Neuroi shaped like a lunch pale looks more like an M18 Claymore to me. Just to give a better image, Jeanne's hairstyle is like Kanade Tachibana's from Angel Beats and her jacket is similar to those in Attack on Titan, but without the insignias and isn't a crop top.**

**Production trivia: I originally planned to use the S&amp;W M19 instead of the M27 as Evelyn's sidearm but the M19 started production in 1957 and I wanted a .357 Magnum so I settled on the M27.**


	3. Grounded

**A/N: This chapter is finally here after writing, scrapping, and rewriting God knows how many times. Something important to mention is that I have rewritten part of the second half of Evelyn's introduction in the last chapter. Even with the changes, I think there's some work that needs to be done. On a side note, I originally planned to publish this chapter on "Super" Pi Day. Get it? 3.1415; 3-14-(20)15?**

* * *

-3-

Grounded

_Shouting came from the other room. No words could be made out to the young girl who sat against the wall with her ears covered, trying to block out the booming voices of her parents. Suddenly, glass shattered, wood splintered, and girl's vision ran red. Panting heavily, she looked down and, through her pulsating vision, saw a bleeding metal blade in her hand._

Warm sunlight angled through the window and set upon the sleeping witch. Evelyn twitched her eyes as the rays reached her face and she blinked to adjust to the growing brightness. Thinking back to yesterday, she was still trying to piece together what had happened before she found herself on the bridge. Something to do with the shower room, Rheingold, and waking up on the tiled floor with her lungs coughing up water. The back of her head still hurt and she gently rubbed it. With a sigh, she lazily swung her bare legs over the edge of her bed and yawned. She slipped out of her sleeping blouse and put on her uniform with the pants. With a white hair tie, she tied her blonde hair into a ponytail and noted that it extended past the middle of her back. _I'm going to need to cut it soon._ Evelyn loaded her M27 and holstered it. Her holster was brown leather and was hooked on a waist belt of a matching color. Her belt had slots where she carried an extra couple dozen rounds for her gun. Before leaving her room, she lifted the cover page of her page-a-day calendar and ripped a page off to reveal today's date.

_Thursday, March 2__nd__, 1944..._

Evelyn patted the calendar and headed to Johanna's office. When she arrived, Johanna was in a heated conversation with Hausser. The younger witch tiptoed to the corner by the door and let the argument carry on. Her daydreaming was interrupted when Johanna got off the phone and announced that she and Evelyn were going to go fly.

Evelyn was already in her pair of FW-190 A5 Strikers with the engines all warmed up by the time Johanna arrived at the hangar. Johanna hopped into hers and grabbed her MG 42 which was in the standard "witches' format" with a double drum magazine feeding from top. Evelyn's was in a standard infantry configuration which uses belts.

"Evelyn?" Johanna placed her hand on Evelyn's shoulder. "Are you ready?"

Evelyn nodded.

Johanna moved to take off and Evelyn followed her lead.

Once they were in the air, Evelyn looked in awe as she saw the horizon stretch in all directions. There was so much energy inside her that she didn't feel the biting cold air that surrounded her at high altitude. She executed multiple barrel rolls to express her excitement.

A little while later up above the Gallian-Karlslandian border, the two lone witches strolled along the border. After a while, Johanna tapped Evelyn's shoulder and pointed down below them. Four small-type Neuroi could be seen flying perpendicular to them towards Gallia in a rough rectangular formation.

"Remember what I taught you. I'll stay high and cover you. Now, go get them!" Johanna said encouragingly.

Evelyn beamed and dove down and behind the Neuroi.

_Okay, okay!_ Evelyn tried to calm herself and focus._ First, take the safety off._ She flicked her thumb over the small button._ Second, chamber a round._ She pulled back the charging handle forgetting in her rush of adrenaline, that in order for the safety to be on, the gun must already be cocked._ Target the closest one. Line up the front and rear sight and…fire!_ Evelyn squeezed the trigger and the Neuroi at the back of the formation disintegrated under the weight of 1200 rounds per minute. Her first kill! The formation scattered and she latched onto another one. It was in a wide left turn, presenting its topside to the witch. She dispatched it quickly and went after one that was climbing. Her Strikers roared as she climbed at full power but she didn't watch her airspeed. She and the Neuroi stopped dead in their climb, frozen in the air until gravity decided to pull them back down. The Neuroi fell past her and Evelyn had to contort her body to catch sight of it. Once she found her target, she let loose with an arc of tracers, hoping some of them would find their mark. Before she knew it, she was falling past the all too familiar white shards. Evelyn pulled back into level flight when her shield activated. A beam had struck her from behind! The last Neuroi has attacked, turning the huntress into the hunted.

"Johanna! Help!" Evelyn cried as she dodged hostile fire.

"Calm down and remember that move I taught you," Johanna instructed.

Evelyn concentrated as she searched her memory for a certain move. She eventually remembered and all she has to do is wait for the perfect opportunity. The Neuroi fired into her shield at full power. _Now!_ Once the attack died, Evelyn braked and twirled around sideways like a ballerina. She felt proud of herself only to find out that she didn't gain much altitude in the maneuver. _Shit! _The Neuroi slammed into Evelyn and the witch bounced over the top of it. She put a hand to her temple and cursed but she was now in position to take the shot. She fired in and turned it into metal confetti. Johanna flew down to meet her.

"That was wonderful!" Johanna praised.

"Not really. I messed up on that last one."

"Forget about that. Mistakes do happen. Besides," Johanna continued. "You got four victories in one sortie! Your first four! That's something to be proud of isn't it?

"I heard Der Stern von Afrika managed to get fifteen in one day," Evelyn said loathingly.

"Well, Marseille is on the level of Karlsland's top aces. Don't compare yourself to others higher or lower than you. Compete with those on your level."

Evelyn let her mentor's words sink in. As she sorted through them, she thought it would be the best time to tell Johanna her worries about Rheingold.

"Um, Johanna?" Evelyn began. "I think Rheingold-"

She was interrupted when a red beam sliced the sky in between them. The witches looked up and saw a swarm of Neuroi.

"Tell me later!" she said and started to call the base for back up. "This is Squadron Leader Wiese! I need reinforcements at the border!" She gave their coordinates. Almost immediately she got a response from Rheingold.

"This is Jade. I'm already in the air with Jacie. We'll be there in a couple of minutes."

Johanna thought to herself in confusion. _What? What are they doing up here? They don't have training or a patrol scheduled at this time._ She shook the thought away and began unloading into the Neuroi._ Wait a minute...where is Evelyn?!_

Evelyn was having the time of her life. Small-type Neuroi shattered as they found themselves unfortunate enough to be in front of Evelyn's gun. As inexperienced as she was, she couldn't easily tell if her kills were drones or mother ships so she took note of shapes and numbers of the ones she managed to take down. She began her reload when a medium-type appeared._ That should be worth something!_

Evelyn slammed the top cover closed and dived down to meet it. Above and behind, she was in the perfect firing position, but just as she was about to fire, it banked hard left. The witch pulled up to bleed off speed and angled back down, executing a perfect high yo-yo. As she turned back in, so did the Neuroi. They crossed paths and turned back into each other again. Evelyn was locked in a rolling scissors with the Neuroi. She grimaced at the notion as this was one of her least favorite combat maneuvers. Decreasing the throttle with each pass, she felt uneasy until she actually got a good burst in. The Neuroi was hit on its left "wing" and was trailing fragments but it was still alive. It broke off and Evelyn slid back onto its tail. Before she could do anything however, tracers rained down on the alien, destroying it.

Evelyn looked up and saw Jacie Talbot diving down. That was one of the last people she would want to see but with the amount of Neuroi about, she didn't complain until Talbot shifted her flight path. She was diving right for Evelyn! Ignoring the enemies around her, Talbot let out a long burst from her MG 42. Every round bounced harmlessly off Evelyn's shield. Evelyn tried to give chase as Talbot dove past her but the scissors left her in a low energy state and she couldn't catch up. Talbot zoom climbed, easily pulling out of range. She rolled over at the top and again, dove down, guns blazing. Evelyn continued her dive and twisted her body around so she can fire back at Talbot while maintaining her dive. She held down the trigger and tracers flew between the two witches. A Neuroi flew in close and Talbot snapped her gun to take it out. Evelyn took this moment to level out and make a run for it. Talbot gave chase. Bullets went all around Evelyn and some hit her shield as she took evasive maneuvers. Even though the witches were fighting amongst themselves, they still destroyed any Neuroi unfortunate enough to cross their paths.

Talbot began her reload and Evelyn shot back at her while flying backwards. Talbot yanked the charging handle back and shot in short bursts as the MGs of both witches began to heat up. Another burst from Talbot and one of the bullets cut Evelyn's ammunition belt down to ten remaining rounds. As expected, the buzzsaw ravished the remains of the belt. Evelyn looked in surprise as the gun clicked. Talbot had cleared a jam in her gun and was about to fire again. Evelyn took out her revolver and fired all six shots in rapid succession before pouring all her magic into her Strikers to make a run for it. Talbot had gotten Evelyn in her sights and pulled the trigger. However, instead of the roar of the buzzsaw, there was a single loud "BANG!"

Immense pain shot through Talbot's left hand.

"Fuck! What the fuck was that?!" Talbot looked at her hand. Blood flowed from multiple openings and some metal pieces were lodged in her palm fingers. What had happened was when Evelyn fired her revolver, a bullet was able to find its way into the barrel of Talbot's MG 42 causing the barrel to explode when Talbot attempted to fire again.

"Motherfucker!" Talbot said as she gingerly changed the red-hot barrel. She closed the latch and took aim. Evelyn was reaching the edge of the MG 42s effective range and her left hand was not making things any easier. Thinking she has a shot, she let the cold barrel run hot with a long burst. She sprayed and prayed until there were some results.

Bullets raked across Evelyn's right Striker, peppering the unit and turning the stabilizer into Helvetian cheese. The unit coughed black smoke and quit. Never taught how to fly on one Striker, Evelyn screamed as she found her way into the trees.

"This is Jacie. It's done," she said to Rheingold.

Branches whipped her face as Evelyn plummeted through the canopy. She grunted as she hit one branch after the next, vainly grabbing at twigs that snapped under her weight. Her head slammed on a particularly thick branch and her unconscious body continued the journey to the forest floor.

* * *

Johanna walked along the path and onto the porch of a house. She raised her hand to knock on the door but hesitated. What was she going to say? It's been one day and Evelyn has not come back. She took a shaky breath and lightly knocked with the back of her hand. After a few moments, a woman with brown hair and green eyes in her late thirties to early forties opened the door. Johanna took off her flight cap.

"Mrs. Meyer?"

"Yes."

"I'm Squadron Johanna Wiese. May I come in?"

"Evelyn's mentor? Yes, yes, please come in! And please call me Wera," Wera said but she could tell by Johanna's face, this wasn't just a friendly visit.

Johanna sat on a couch in the living room. There was a coffee table in front of her and on the other side was another couch where Evelyn's step-father, Peter, sat, looking anxious. He was around the same age as Wera and has blond hair and blue eyes. Johanna looked around the house from where she sat. It was a small but cozy. Gallia had built houses for Karlslandian refugees after the liberation of Gallia thanks to the efforts of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. On the fireplace mantel, there were several pictures. Some had Wera and Peter, others had just Evelyn, and some had all three. Something Johanna noticed was that Evelyn only smiled half-heartedly if at all. _Was she ever truly happy?_ Johanna thought to herself. Wera offered tea and Johanna gave her thanks. In truth, she wanted alcohol more than anything. Wera sat down next to her husband and Johanna began to break the news.

Johanna handed over the envelope that was in her pocket. After reading three letters, Wera put her hand over her mouth and silently cried.

"KIA. Could you tell us how she died?" Johanna could hear the grief in Peter's voice.

"We were over the border," Johanna began. "She did beautifully. Her first taste of combat and she scored four kills. We got separated after that and I have no doubt that she was able to take one more down. I didn't see her for the rest of the flight and she didn't return to base. I protested the act of dismissing Evelyn so quickly but orders are orders and I still have to follow them. That's why I came to deliver the news myself. I didn't want some guy behind a desk seeing Evelyn as a statistic to do it. I'm sorry, but if she did go down, she went down fighting and as an ace."

Wera was moved and hopeful that her little girl was successful. Her tears became uncontrollable and there was no way the dam would be fixed anytime soon. Johanna rushed over and helped Peter comfort her. Out of the corner of her eye, Johanna saw a little girl no more than six peeking nervously out from behind a corner. It was Evelyn's younger half-sister, Emilie. She was just a regular girl and was not a witch and probably would never be one as no familiars approached her and she showed no signs of magic power about her. Peter saw her too and, as gently as he could, tried the best he could to break the news about her older sister. Johanna hugged Wera and let her cry onto her shoulder. Johanna lightly rested her head on Wera's and a single tear escaped from her eye and down her cheek.

* * *

Evelyn woke up in a bed of moss and grass. It was nice and bright out as sunlight filtered through the leaves to the forest floor. Birds chattered in the distance. She put her hand in front of her face and looked up at the sun already high in the clear blue sky.

_It's bright out. How long have I been here? A day?_

Her arm slapped back onto the ground as she studied the broken branches above her. She didn't know how long she had lay there but by the time she attempted to sit up, her shadow was already on the other side of her body. Midway up, she gasped in pain and instinctively put her hand where it hurt. Evelyn widened her eyes in surprise as she felt a thick warm liquid against her hand. She looked down to her left to find her waist dripping with blood. Her Strikers were not in much of a better shape than she was. Her left Striker was fine except for some dents along the unit but the right was missing its stabilizer and the engine was still smoking.

Two shadows shot across the ground as two small-types noiselessly skimmed above the treetops. In a panic, Evelyn kicked her Strikers off and blindly ran through the forest in the opposite direction of the Neuroi.

After awhile of running, she slumped against a tree and panted. Her feet were now covered in dirt, scrapes, and blood. She just stared at them blankly and by chance, she happened to look up. Ahead of her, through the trees, there was bright pool of sunlight and reflections of what seemed to be metal and windows. Evelyn limped towards the light and stared in awe at what stood before her. It was an airfield completely unscathed from bombs, bullets, and other weapon damage although nature seemed to be reclaiming its territory. There were a couple Jeeps and Kubelwagens dotted across the field. An FW-200 Condor which belonged to the Karlslandian Luft Hansa sat in two pieces on the runway, probably from a botched emergency landing. On the apron were three Karlslandian Bf-109 Es, two early model Britannian Spitfires, and an Ostmarkian Hurricane Mk I judging by its eight gun ports.

Inside the hangar, there was a Liberion "Deuce and a Half", another Kubelwagen, and a Liberion Army motorcycle that Evelyn didn't know the model of. There was a FW-190 A1 that seemed to have been stripped down for parts but something that caught Evelyn's eye was that in the back of the hangar, were six empty Striker launchers.

Pushing the thought of who could've used the launchers out of her mind, Evelyn limped as fast as she could around the base until she found the infirmary. The infirmary was completely untouched except for the layer of dust over everything. Almost immediately, Evelyn began trashing the place looking for painkillers, morphine, anything that could ease the increasing pain in her side. She swung open a cabinet and found a bottle of painkillers. She popped the cap off only to find that it was empty.

"Damn it!" Evelyn shattered the bottle on the ground. Letting out a cry pain, she slowly sat down on a hospital bed behind her. Panting heavily, she looked at the cabinet and saw several rolls of bandages. She took the rolls and a handful of towels. She took off her jacket and shirt so she could start cleaning her wound. She ran a towel around the cut on her waist to clean the blood then wrapped the bandage around her waist several times to make sure it didn't start bleeding again. She then did the same for both of her feet.

After dressing her wounds, she activated her magic, much to her familiar's protest.

"Come off it, Arya," Evelyn said. "I need my magic to get over this pain."

Arya became quiet and the witch could picture the black cat giving her a pouty face. Evelyn picked up her jacket only to find that it was torn and soaked with blood and her shirt was no better. They would definitely not help protect her from the cold nights. She let the jacket land on the floor with a wet slap and headed towards the barracks to find something that could cover her half naked body.

On her way there, she was astounded at the rest of the base. The base resembled a fancy hotel rather than a military base. The halls were lined with red carpet and there was a common room that was fit for a mansion with sofas, recliners, a coffee table and end tables...it was all just breathtaking to the witch.

Evelyn reached the barracks which just like the rest of the base, resembled nice hotel rooms. She searched the closets and dressers of four rooms but hasn't found anything that would fit her well. At the fifth room, she was faced with a row of black jackets when she opened the closet door. Taking one from its hanger, she held it and inspected it. A silver eagle hung on the right breast and there was a pocket on the left. A rectangular cutout exposed the crotch area and on either side of the cutout were two pockets big enough to store maps. Red trimming lined the cuffs, collar, pocket openings, and sliver buttons of the jacket. Evelyn knew who would have worn a jacket like this. It used to belong to a Karlslandian night witch. She slipped into the jacket, resembling a certain Adel Nacht Hexe. It was a little too snug but it fit her well enough.

Out the window, the sun was already turning the sky red as it reached the horizon. Evelyn plopped down on the bed and sneezed as some dust was thrown up.

_So...I'm stuck in Neuroi territory with broken Strikers and a cut that would probably get infected. One hell of a way to die._ Evelyn gave a heavy sigh. _Dying alone. I can't say goodbye to Johanna, I can't say goodbye to my mom, dad, Emilie, Sophia Rhein-._ She stopped just before she could finish saying that hated name. _That's right! I can't say goodbye Rheingold! Or Talbot or her bitch Samin!_ _I won't have to see them again!_ Evelyn put her hands up to her face as she chuckled in a not so sane manner.

"This may not be so bad after all."

* * *

**A/N: There goes the third chapter. As always please leave a compliment or a (constructive) criticism and I'll catch you guys and gals in the next chapter.**

**Helvetia is the Strike Witches universe's name for Switzerland. **

**Adel Nacht Hexe is German and as far as I know loosely translates to Aristocratic/Noble Night Witch. **

**Evelyn's first taste of combat was inspired by Shizuka Hattori's from the movie.**

**The date Evelyn was shot down, March 2, 1944, should give a clue on the pilot I originally based Evelyn off of. Don't worry. I'll reveal it in the next chapter.**


End file.
